Digital Commons Network^™

Erosion Resistant Rock Shoulder, Chung R. Song, Richard L. Wood, Basil Abualshar, Mark O'Brien, Bashar Al-Nimri, Mitra Nasimi

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Highway shoulder rocks are exposed to continuous erosion force due to unexpected floodings caused by climate change. The evaluation methods of the erosion resistance of highway shoulder rocks are not currently well-developed. This study developed a new large-scale testing device, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Erosion Testing Bed (UNLETB), which has the capability of testing the shoulder gravels. Different gradations were tested using UNLETB, and the results distinguished a high-resistant group and a low-resistant group. The low resistant group was treated with different binding agents: Ammonium Lignosulfonate (LIGNO10), Soybean Soap Stock, and DirtGlue. The treated samples showed better erosion resistance based …

Economic And Environmental Performance Of Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems: Resilience To Uncertainties And An Opportunity For Sustainable Intensification, Maroua Afi

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Integrated crop-livestock systems are promoted as an alternative for sustainable intensification of food production. They have the potential to offer enhanced input efficiency and maintain a diversified livelihood which plays an important role in building resilience of agricultural systems. This work aims to evaluate the technical efficiency of “Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems” (ICLS), “Specialized Livestock Systems” (SLS) and “Specialized Cropping Systems” (SCS) and to identify the determinants behind inefficiencies in these systems. It also aims to assess the resilience against climate variability and market fluctuations. The first chapter provides a comparative analysis and an overview of technical efficiency assessment of farming …

Impacts Of Campus Disruption On Educational Developers’ Role-Identity And Teamwork, William V. Pilny, Benjamin Brock, Stephanie Laggini Fiore

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In times of crises, educational developers (EDs) work to ameliorate the teaching- and learning-related impacts caused by campus-wide disruptions such as health-related emergencies, mass shootings, and environmental disasters. These incidents may impact the personal-psychological factors and processes of EDs that, in turn, influence their engagement with team members and faculty. Given the vital role EDs play in improving faculty teaching and student learning across higher education (Dawson et al., 2010; Grupp, 2014; Schroeder et al., 2010), understanding the impacts of campus-wide disruptions on their functioning is critical. The present, novel study uses a psychological-phenomenological methodology and the Dynamic Systems Model …

Limited Accumulation And Persistence Of An Influenza A Virus In Tadpole Snails (Physa Spp.), Paul T. Oesterle, J. Jeffrey Root, Darcy S.O. Mora, Heather Schneider, Alan B. Franklin, Kathryn P. Huyvaert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Waterfowl infected with avian influenza A viruses (IAVs) shed infectious virus into aquatic environments, providing a mechanism for transmission among waterfowl, while also exposing the entire aquatic ecosystem to the virus. Aquatic invertebrates such as freshwater snails are likely exposed to IAVs in the water column and sediment. Freshwater snails comprise a significant portion of some waterfowl species’ diets, so this trophic interaction may serve as a novel route of IAV transmission. In these experiments, tadpole snails (Physa spp.) were exposed to a low-pathogenicity IAV (H3N8) to determine whether snails can accumulate the virus and, if so, how long virus …

Establishment Of Sinoxylon Anale Lesne (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) In Brazil And Its Potential Implications, Luana De Souza Covre, Robert A. Hack, Carlos A.H. Flechtmann

Insecta Mundi

Bostrichidae (Coleoptera) are a family of beetles with specialized xylophagous feeding habits that allow consumption of dry woody plant tissues. Bostrichids are often polyphagous and therefore pose a sig­nificant threat to many agricultural and forestry products, particularly in tropical regions. Bostrichids are commonly detected in solid wood packaging material at international ports of entry. Notably, Sinoxylon anale Lesne has been intercepted in wood crates and pallets worldwide and has now become established in Brazil. This paper reports the first documented establishment of S. anale in Brazil, being found both in domestic wood pallets and within native forest and monoculture. The …

Detection Of Cancer-Associated Gene Mutations In Urinary Cell-Free Dna Among Prostate Cancer Patients In South Africa, Dada Oluwaseyi Temilola, Martha Wium, Juliano Paccez, Azola Samkele Salukazana, Solomon O. Rotimi, Hasan H. Otu, Giuseppina M. Carbone, Lisa Kaestner, Stefano Cacciatore, Luiz Fernando Zerbini

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common cause of cancer death among African men. The presence of tumor-specific variations in cell-free DNA (cfDNA), such as mutations, microsatellite instability, and DNA methylation, has been explored as a source of biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. In this study, we investigated the diagnostic role of cfDNA among South African PCa patients. We performed whole exome sequencing (WES) of urinary cfDNA. We identified a novel panel of 31 significantly deregulated somatic mutated genes between PCa and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Additionally, we performed whole-genome sequencing (WGS) on matching PCa and normal prostate tissue in an …

Analogue Model Of Rift Linkage And Inversion With Application To The Western Alps, Nicolas Dall’Asta, Yoann Denèle, Vincent Regard, Anne Frayssignes, Guilhem Hoareau, Sylvie Leroy, Thibaut Pires

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Along-strike segmentation of orogens raises questions because its causes may predate orogeny in relation to structural inheritance. Here we focus on rift/margin linkage domains and their inversion by using analogue models with image analysis to extract the 3D strain field. Extensional models document, depending on the strike-perpendicular offset and the brittle-crust thickness, three types of rift linkage modes: (1) oblique linkage with early T-fault, (2) strongly-oblique linkage with R-fault network and, (3) transfer-linkage with late Y-strike-slip fault. Analogue model of inverted rift basins is used to analyse the misunderstood tectonic evolution of transition zones in the segmented Western Alpine belt.

Laser-Direct-Drive Fusion Target Design With A High-Z Gradient-Density Pusher Shell, S. S. Hu, L. Ceurvorst, J. L. Peebles, A. Mao, P. Li, Yongfeng Lu, A. Shvydky, V. N. Goncharov, R. Epstein, K. A. Nichols, R. M. N. Goshadze, M. Ghosh, J. Hinz, V. V. Karasiev, S. Zhang, N. R. Shaffer, D. I. Mihaylov, J. Cappelletti, D. R. Harding, C. K. Li, E. M. Campbell, R. C. Shah, T. J. B. Collins, S. P. Regan, C. Deeney

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Laser-direct-drive fusion target designs with solid deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel, a high-Z gradient-density pusher shell (GDPS), and a Au-coated foam layer have been investigated through both 1D and 2D radiationhydrodynamic simulations. Compared with conventional low-Z ablators and DT-push-on-DT targets, these GDPS targets possess certain advantages of being instability-resistant implosions that can be high adiabat (α ≽ 8) and low hot-spot and pusher-shell convergence (CR_hs ≈22 and CR_PS ≈17), and have a low implosion velocity (v_imp < 3 × 10⁷ cm/s). Using symmetric drive with laser energies of 1.9 to 2.5 MJ, 1D LILAC simulations of these GDPS implosions can result …

Genetic Improvement Of Tocotrienol Content Enhances The Oxidative Stability Of Canola Oil, Min Deng, Hao Chen, Wei Zhang, Edgar B. Cahoon, Yongming Zhou, Chunyu Zhang

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Background: Tocotrienols and tocopherols, which are synthesized in plastids of plant cells with similar functionalities, comprise vitamin E to serve as a potent lipid-soluble antioxidant in plants. The synthesis of tocopherols involves the condensation of homogentisic acid (HGA) and phytyl diphosphate (PDP) under the catalysis of homogentisate phytyltransferase (HPT). Tocotrienol synthesis is initiated by the condensation of HGA and geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGDP) mediated by homogentisate geranylgeranyl transferase (HGGT). As one of the most important oil crops, canola seed is regarded as an ideal plant to efficiently improve the production of vitamin E tocochromanols through genetic engineering approaches. However, only …

Observations On A 40-Year January Bird Census In Boone County, Nebraska, 1978–2017, Wayne Mollhoff

Zea E-Books Collection

For 40 years Wayne Mollhoff conducted a personal bird census every January. He explains: "After having run several Breeding Bird Survey routes, and participated in several Christmas Bird Counts, I became curious to see what might be found on a winter count under the more tightly controlled parameters of a census, as contrasted with Christmas counts done with variable numbers of observers."

The count was set up similarly to the USGS Breeding Bird Survey routes with 50 stops, one-half mile (800 meters) apart, all birds counted for 3 minutes, with birds counted at one stop not counted again at following …

An Evolutionary Pathway For Coping With Emerging Infectious Disease, Scott Lyell Gardner, Daniel R. Brooks, Walter A. Boeger, Eric P. Hoberg

Zea E-Books Collection

Emerging infectious disease (EID) represents an existential threat to humanity. EIDs are increasing in frequency and impact because of climate change and other human activities. We are losing the battle against EIDs because of improper assessment of the risk of EID. This stems from adherence to a failed paradigm of pathogen-host associations that suggests EIDs ought to be both unpredictable and rare. That, in turn, leads to policies suggesting that crisis response is the best we can do. Real-time and phylogenetic assessments show EIDs to be neither rare nor unpredictable—this is the parasite paradox that shows the failures of the …

Presence, Co-Occurrence, And Daily Intake Estimates Of Aflatoxins And Fumonisins In Maize Consumed In Food-Insecure Regions Of Western Honduras, Luis Sabillón, Jackeline Alvarado, Alejandra Leiva, Rodrigo Mendoza, Raúl Espinal, John F. Leslie, Andreia Bianchini

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Foodborne mycotoxins are a significant food safety risk in developing countries. Our objective was to determine the occurrence of and exposure levels to aflatoxins (AFs) and fumonisins (FBs) in maize intended for human and animal consumption in food-insecure regions of western Honduras. Total AFs and FBs were quantified with a monoclonal antibody-based affinity spectrofluorimetric method. FBs were detected in 614/631 samples of maize destined for human consumption at 0.3 to 41 mg/kg (mean, 2.7 mg/kg). Of the 614 positive samples, 147 had FB levels exceeding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory threshold of 4.0 mg/kg. AFs were detected …

Energy Dissipation Optimization For Circular Culverts, David M. Admiraal, Chi Zhang

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Two types of energy dissipation devices at circular culvert outlets were investigated: full-length weirs and staggered weirs. Related literature was reviewed; a model broken-back circular culvert and dissipation basin was built; instrumentation was installed to measure discharge, piezometric head, and velocities; and four sizes of full-length and staggered weirs were tested over a range of discharges and tailwaters. Weir heights ranged from D/8 to 4D/8, in which D was the culvert diameter. The two weir types were subjected to two styles of tests: (1) tests unaffected by tailwater and (2) tailwater-influenced tests. For tall full-length weirs (3D/8 and 4D/8), basin …

Is Climate Change Causing The Range Contraction Of Cape Rock-Jumpers (Chaetops Frenatus)?, Gregory D. Duckworth, Raquel A. Garcia, Rheinhardt Scholtz, Res Altwegg

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Species distribution models often suggest strong links between climate and species' distribution boundaries and project large distribution shifts in response to climate change. However, attributing distribution shifts to climate change requires more than correlative models. One idea is to examine correlates of the processes that cause distribution shifts, namely colonization and local extinction, by using dynamic occupancy models. The Cape Rock-jumper (Chaetops frenatus) has disappeared over most of its distribution where temperatures are the highest. We used dynamic occupancy models to analyse Cape Rock-jumper distribution with respect to climate (mean temperature and precipitation over the warmest annual quarter), …

Contextual Determinants Of Re-Reporting For Families Receiving Alternative Response: A Survival Analysis In A Midwestern State, Jianchao Lai, Michelle Graef, Todd Franke, Toby Burnham

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

Differential response (DR) has been widely adopted in over 30 states to address shortcomings of the traditional approach to child maltreatment reports in complex family and case circumstances. However, despite continued evaluation efforts, evidence of the effectiveness of DR remains inconclusive. The current study aims to assess the impact of a DR program and potential predictors, including service match and number of family case workers, on maltreatment re-reports in a Midwestern state. The study utilized a randomized control trial and assigned eligible families to either the Alternative Response (AR) track or Traditional Response (TR) track. The enrollment was implemented in …

Antibiotic-Induced Gut Dysbiosis And Cognitive, Emotional, And Behavioral Changes In Rodents: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Shivdeep S. Hayer, Soonjo Hwang, Jonathan B. Clayton

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

There are previous epidemiological studies reporting associations between antibiotic use and psychiatric symptoms. Antibiotic-induced gut dysbiosis and alteration of microbiota-gut-brain axis communication has been proposed to play a role in this association. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we reviewed published articles that have presented results on changes in cognition, emotion, and behavior in rodents (rats and mice) after antibiotic-induced gut dysbiosis. We searched three databases—PubMed, Web of Science, and SCOPUS to identify such articles using dedicated search strings and extracted data from 48 articles. Increase in anxiety and depression-like behavior was reported in 32.7 and 40.7 percent of the …

Observation Of The Rare Decay Of The Η Meson To Four Muons, A. Hayrapetyan

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

A search for the rare η → μ⁺μ⁻μ⁺μ⁻ double-Dalitz decay is performed using a sample of proton-proton collisions, collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC with high-rate muon triggers during 2017 and 2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb⁻¹. A signal having a statistical significance well in excess of 5 standard deviations is observed. Using the η → μ⁺μ⁻ decay as normalization, the branching fraction β(η → μ⁺μ⁻μ⁺μ⁻) = [5.0 ± 0.8(stat) ± 0.7(syst) ± …

Higher Education Exports Before And After Covid, John C. Beghin, Byungyul Park

Yeutter Institute International Trade Policy Review

Historically, the higher education system in countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developing (OECD), a grouping of advanced economies, and especially in the United States, has been a magnet for foreign students, both graduate and undergraduates. Graduate students tend to be supported by teaching and research assistantships from the hosting university and do not generate direct revenues for the hosting institution. They do contribute to the economy with their productivity in research projects and with their private consumption. In contrast, most undergraduate foreign students pay fees and tuition which are often higher than those paid by local …

Making Data Management Plans Machine Actionable: Templates And Tools, Joakim Philipson, Adil Hasan, Hanne Moa

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Since September of 2019, a task group within the European Open Science Cloud - EOSC Nordic Project, work-package 5 (T5.3.2), has focused its attention on machine-actionable Data Management Plans (maDMPs). A delivery working-paper from the group (Hasan et al. 2021) concluded in summary that extracting useful information from traditional free-text based DMPs is problematic. While maDMPs are generally more FAIR compliant, and as such accessible to both humans and machines, more interoperable with other systems, and serving different stakeholders for processing, sharing, evaluation and reuse. Different DMP tools and templates have developed independently, to a varying degree, allowing for the …

What’S Our Venue, Victor? A Statutory And Constitutional Analysis Of United States V. Lozoya, Sean Harrison

Nebraska Law Bulletin (Selected Issues)

The court in Lozoya II chose to apply the law when and how it saw fit to reach the conclusion it desired. It should have either applied the law and ruled that under the Venue Clause, venue was not proper in the Central District of California and recommended legislative action, or it should have overturned Barnard. The latter means the assault would have occurred outside of the districts territory; meaning neither § 3237(a) nor § 3238 apply and the court could have created a new test to determine the proper venue in a way that comports the most with the …

Valuing The Lives Of Plaintiffs Of Color In Tort Law: A Critique Of The Use Of Race-Based Data In Damage Award Calculations, Alejandra Ayotitla, Ross Pesek

Nebraska Law Bulletin (Selected Issues)

Prohibiting the use of race-based data in damage award calculations will not eradicate other forms of systemic racism in tort law, as manifested in generational disparities in healthcare, education, or wealth. But it will be a step forward in valuing the lives of plaintiffs of color. To make this change, economists, the legal community, and legislators must reject what has become a widespread practice of relying on race-based data to calculate damage awards. There are additional reasons to reject such practice, most notably because the use of race-based data is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause and bad policy, …

Search For Magnetoelectric Monopole Response In Cr2O3 Powder, Syed Qamar Abbas Shah, Ather Mahmood, Arun Parthasarathy, Christian H. Binek

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Powder samples have been suggested as a pathway to fabricate isotropic magnetoelectric (ME) materials which effectively only have a pseudoscalar or monopole ME response. We demonstrate that random distribution of ME grains alone does not warrant isotropic ME response because the activation of a nonvanishing ME response requires a ME field cooling protocol which tends to induce preferred axes.We investigate the evolution of ME susceptibility in powder chromia samples for various ME field cooling protocols both theoretically and experimentally. In particular, we work out the theoretical expressions for ME susceptibility for powder chromia in the framework of statistical mechanics where …

An Improved Source Of Spin-Polarized Electrons Based On Spin Exchange In Optically Pumped Rubidium Vapor, K. J. Ahrendsen, Kenneth Wayne Trantham, D. Tupa, T. J. Gay

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

We have improved a polarized electron source in which unpolarized electrons undergo collisions with a mixture of buffer gas molecules and optically spin-polarized Rb atoms. With a nitrogen buffer gas, the source reliably provides spin polarization between 15% and 25% with beam currents >4 μA. Vacuum pump upgrades mitigate problems caused by denatured diffusion pump oil, leading to longer run times. A new differential pumping scheme allows the use of higher buffer gas pressures up to 800 mTorr. With a new optics layout, the Rb polarization is continuously monitored by a probe laser and improved pump laser power provides more …

Resistant Potato Starch Supplementation Reduces Serum Histamine Levels In Healthy Adults With Links To Attenuated Intestinal Permeability, Jason R. Bush, Jun Han, Edward C. Deehan, Scott V. Harding, Madhura Maiya, Joshua Baisley, David Schibli, David R. Goodlett

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Histamine from our diet or gut microbes can trigger gastrointestinal disturbances, and resistant potato starch (RPS) has previously been shown to alleviate these symptoms while increasing levels of health-associated bacteria such as Akkermansia through unknown mechanisms. Post hoc exploratory metabolomic analysis of serum amino acid, amine, and carnitine metabolites in participants consuming 3.5 g/day RPS or placebo (n = 48) was performed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to determine whether RPS positively influences histamine metabolism and related parameters. Histamine levels were significantly reduced by RPS treatment, but histamine-degrading enzyme products were unaffected by RPS. RPS also reduced histamine-secreting Haemophilus and Lactobacillus …

The Evolving Definition Of Plant Cell Type, Sahand Amini, Jeffrey J. Doyle, Marc Libault

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

In 1665 Robert Hooke, looking at cork through his microscope, discovered that plants are composed of elementary structures he named “cells”. Variation in the expression of a single genome in a complex eukaryotic organism guides the initiation, maturation, physiology, and biochemistry of cells with different shapes and sizes, playing different structural and functional roles in space and time. How many kinds of cells—”cell types”— an organism possesses of course depends on the organism’s cellular complexity, but the plasticity within a cell type fuels the emergence of the concept of cell state (Figure 1). The transition between cell states is driven …

A Sensitivity Study Of Triboson Production Processes To Dimension-6 Eft Operators At The Lhc, R. Bellan, S. Bhattacharya, G. Boldrini, F. Cetorelli, P. Govoni, A. Massironi, A. Mecca, C. Tarricone, A. Vagnerini

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

We present the first parton-level study of anomalous effects in triboson production in both fully and semi-leptonic channels in proton-proton collisions at 13TeV at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The sensitivity to anomalies induced by a minimal set of bosonic dimension-6 operators from the Warsaw basis is evaluated with specific analyses for each final state. A likelihood-based strategy is employed to assess the most sensitive kinematic observables per channel, where the contribution of Effective Field Theory operators is parameterized at either the linear or quadratic level. The impact of the mutual interference terms of pairs of operators on the sensitivity …

Changes In An Enzyme Ensemble During Catalysis Observed By High Resolution Xfel Crystallography, Nathan J. Smith, Medhanjali Dasgupta, David C. Wych, Cole Dolamore, Raymond G. Sierra, Stella Lisova, Darya Marchany-Rivera, Aina E. Cohen, Sébastien Boutet, Mark S. Hunter, Christopher Kupitz, Frédéric Poitevin, Frank R. Moss Iii, Aaron S. Brewster, Nicholas K. Sauter, Iris D. Young, Alexander M. Wolff, Virendra K. Tiwari, Nivesh Kumar, David B. Berkowitz, Ryan G. Hadt, Michael C. Thompson, Alec H. Follmer, Mark A. Wilson

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Publications

Enzymes populate ensembles of structures with intrinsically different catalytic proficiencies that are difficult to experimentally characterize. We use time-resolved mix-and-inject serial crystallography (MISC) at an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) to observe catalysis in a designed mutant (G150T) isocyanide hydratase (ICH) enzyme that enhances sampling of important minor conformations. The active site exists in a mixture of conformations and formation of the thioimidate catalytic intermediate selects for catalytically competent substates. A prior proposal for active site cysteine charge-coupled conformational changes in ICH is validated by determining structures of the enzyme over a range of pH values. A combination of large …

Dna Methylation Networks Underlying Mammalian Traits, Amin Haghani

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: Comparative epigenomics is an emerging field that combines epigenetic signatures with phylogenetic relationships to elucidate species characteristics such as maximum life span. For this study, we generated cytosine DNA methylation (DNAm) profiles (n = 15,456) from 348mammalian species using amethylation array platform that targets highly conserved cytosines.

RATIONALE: Nature has evolved mammalian species of greatly differing life spans. To resolve the relationship ofDNAmwith maximum life span and phylogeny, we performed a largescale cross-species unsupervised analysis. Comparative studies in many species enables the identification of epigenetic correlates of maximum life span and other traits.

RESULTS: We …

Truck Platooning Effects On Girder Bridges: Phase Ii-Service, Joshua Steelman, Jay Puckett, Daniel Linzell, Bowen Yang

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Truck platooning—wirelessly linking two or more trucks to travel in a closely spaced convoy—is federally promoted to save fuel, improve the environment, and improve traffic operations. Platooning places trucks much closer than current design codes anticipate. While this strategy can provide higher fuel efficiency, it also can potentially overload structures. Previous reliabilitybased studies (Steelman et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2021) have focused on the Strength I limit state and have shown that trucks can operate at weights exceeding standard legal load limits even with short headways at operating-level reliability. However, service limit states in the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design …

Effect Of Cutting Management On The Forage Production And Quality Of Tepary Bean (Phaseolus Acutifolius A. Gray), Travis W. Witt, Brian K. Northup, Timothy G. Porch, Santos Barrera, Carlos A. Urrea

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray) is an underutilized drought tolerant annual legume, originating from the Sonoran Desert, that may be a beneficial forage/hay for beef cattle in the Southern Great Plains of the US (SGP). The SGP has erratic rainfall and periods of intermittent drought exacerbated by high summer temperatures. In 2020 and 2021, a split-plot design was used to evaluate 13 genotypes of tepary bean and a forage soybean (control) at El Reno, OK, USA to compare production of plant biomass and forage nutritive value parameters under seven harvest regimes. Genotypes were used as the main plot …